Devising Theatre for Social Issues Model Cornerstone Assessment

Title:  Devising Theatre
Grade Level:  High School Advanced
Authors:  Kristie Fuller and Kate Lee
Artistic Processes:  Creating, Performing, Responding, Connecting

Task Description:  Students will create a collaborative devised theatre piece by engaging in an active exploration of a theme/issue/idea. Students will use space and architecture, rhythm, movement, sound, light, text and tension to craft their piece.  

In crafting their piece the students will understand that:  

 ● Form informs content and content informs form

 ● All the elements of the stage have equal value in telling the story 

 ● Collaboration is the primary mode of creating devised theatre

Evidence of student learning:  Devised Collaborative Performance, Individual Student Dramaturgical Casebook, Individual Student Reflection

"Devising Theatre" demonstrates ways to measure student learning in theatre using the development of a devised performance related to a social theme or issue as a tool for instruction and assessment. This Model Cornerstone Assessment (MCA) is based on a unit which was piloted in the classroom by the authors. Although in an MCA the emphasis is on the evaluation tools, an MCA does offer enough information for any teacher to create a similar unit of their own. Click on "View the full MCA" below to see strategies for embedding in instruction as a guide for re-creating this unit and assessment customized for your classroom. 

MCAs model effective assessment practice and demonstrate that teaching theatre is specific, rigorous, and measurable by sharing a glimpse into one teacher's classroom. The MCAs on this website come packaged with a suggested strategy for assessing student learning, types of evidence to collect, model rubrics, and samples of student work demonstrating their process and learning. The samples of student work illustrate the unit in action by providing a snapshot of a moment in time showing student response to instruction.   

View the full MCA

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